From Reactive to Proactive: The Forrester Total Economic Impact™ of Axonius Cybersecurity Asset Management

Ever feel like your security team is stuck in an endless game of Where’s Waldo? You’re not alone. The cybersecurity landscape has become a chaotic battlefield where security and risk professionals find themselves constantly reacting to threats rather than strategically preventing them. We all know the drill: a vulnerability emerges, teams scramble to identify affected assets, remediation efforts begin (hopefully before exploitation), and then, just as you catch your breath, another critical alert pops up. Rinse and repeat until retirement, burnout, or that long-overdue vacation you keep postponing.

What if there was a better way? What if you could shift from reactive firefighting to proactive security management? And what if that shift could be quantified in actual dollars and cents that make CFOs raise an eyebrow and executive teams take notice?

A recent Forrester Total Economic Impact™ study commissioned by Axonius tackled this exact question. The results? A staggering 156% return on investment with a $3.22 million net present value over three years. Yes, you read that correctly. And no, those aren’t typos.

Let’s break down how this is possible and why you should be reaching for the Forrester TEI report and ROI calculator faster than you’d grab the fire extinguisher during a server room emergency.

The Spreadsheet Apocalypse: What’s Really at Stake

If your organization is still relying primarily on spreadsheets and CMDBs to track your technology assets, you’re not just courting inefficiency, you’re practically married to it.

The Forrester study revealed that before implementing a comprehensive cybersecurity asset management solution, security teams were:

• Manually maintaining asset inventories despite exponentially growing attack surfaces

• Working with siloed security tools that created dangerous visibility gaps

• Focusing only on securing “crown jewel” assets while overlooking the broader attack surface

• Spending countless hours on repetitive tasks that could be automated

Sound familiar? If you’re nodding yes, you’re experiencing “The Spreadsheet Apocalypse.” It’s a state where your security posture is only as good as your most recent CSV export (about as secure as public Wi-Fi in an airport terminal.)

The most alarming finding from the Forrester study wasn’t even about efficiency; it was about discovery. Organizations using Axonius uncovered 150% more assets than they previously knew existed in their environments. Let that sink in for a moment. That’s like thinking you own ten servers only to discover you actually have 25. Those extra fifteen? They’ve been operating in your environment, potentially unpatched, unmonitored, and unknown to your security team.

If that doesn’t keep you up at night, you’ve been taking too much melatonin.

The ROI That Makes CFOs Smile (Yes, It’s Possible)

The business case for cybersecurity tools has traditionally been a tough sell. Security teams often feel compelled to resort to fear-based justifications rather than concrete financial return calculations.

This is where the Forrester TEI study and accompanying ROI calculator give you superpowers. The study provides a framework for evaluating the financial impact of Axonius Cybersecurity Asset Management on organizations, based on interviews with four decision-makers who have implemented the solution.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The quantifiable benefits identified include:

1. Enhanced Attack Surface Visibility: $1.3 Million in Savings

• 150% more assets classified than previously identified

• 60% time savings in maintaining accurate asset inventories

• Cost savings from decommissioning unnecessary endpoint licenses

2. Accelerated Vulnerability Management: $1.1 Million in Savings

• 70% time savings in investigating and prioritizing impacted assets

• 90% time savings in other vulnerability management activities

3. Faster Incident Response: $2.1 Million in Savings

• 60% time savings in security incident investigations

• Improved accuracy in distinguishing false positives from genuine threats

4. Automated Compliance Reporting: $84,000 in Savings

• 75% time savings in preparing risk management presentations

• 80% time savings in collecting evidence for compliance obligations

5. Improved Asset Workflows: $671,000 in Savings

• 80% efficiency gains across M&A execution, CMDB enrichment, and other processes

6. Reduced Breach Risk: $63,000 in Savings

• 5% reduction in risk of external breaches

When you add it all up, you get a 156% ROI and $3.22 million in net present value over three years. That’s the kind of return that doesn’t just justify a cybersecurity investment; it makes it look like a financial no-brainer.

Your first reaction might be to say: “These numbers are too good to be true.” That’s where the ROI calculator comes in. It allows you to input your organization’s specific variables including company size, industry, current security operations, etc. and calculate your potential return. It’s like one of those mortgage calculators, except instead of hinting that your next house is years away, this calculator shows how much money you’ll save today.

Beyond the Numbers: The Human Impact of Proactive Security

While the financial benefits are compelling on their own, there’s a human element to this story that deserves attention.

Security teams today are overwhelmed. The constant pressure to respond to incidents, manage vulnerabilities, and ensure compliance takes a toll. Burnout is real, and the cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen. Every hour your team spends manually updating spreadsheets is an hour they could dedicate to more strategic work, or perhaps maintaining a healthier work-life balance to minimize security mistakes.

The Forrester study found that organizations using Axonius saved significant time across multiple security workflows:

• 60% time savings on asset inventory maintenance

• 70% time savings on vulnerability investigations

• 60% time savings on incident response investigations

• 75% time savings on risk management reporting

• 80% time savings on compliance evidence collection

That’s not just efficiency, it’s sanity restoration. It’s the difference between your team leaving at a reasonable hour versus burning the midnight oil. It’s the difference between strategic security planning versus perpetual firefighting.

As one interviewee in the Forrester study noted: “The ability to have one common source of truth has been a game-changer. We’re not arguing about whose data is correct anymore; we’re actually solving problems.”

Transforming Security from Cost Center to Business Enabler

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the Forrester TEI study is how it reframes cybersecurity asset management from a necessary evil to a strategic business advantage.

With proper visibility and automation, security teams can:

1. Accelerate business initiatives like mergers and acquisitions (with 80% efficiency gains in asset research)

2. Optimize technology investments by identifying and decommissioning unnecessary licenses

3. Reduce operational risk through improved compliance and governance

4. Enable more agile responses to emerging threats

5. Support digital transformation with confidence in security posture

This shift, from security as an obstacle to security as an enabler, changes the conversation with executive leadership. You’re no longer justifying security spending solely as insurance against bad outcomes; you’re positioning it as an investment that delivers measurable returns to the business.

Next Steps: From Reading to Action

If you’ve made it this far, you might be wondering what to do next. Here’s a simple roadmap:

1. Download the full Forrester TEI study to understand the methodology and detailed findings

2. Use the ROI calculator to estimate the potential impact on your organization

3. Identify your biggest pain points in current security operations

4. Consider a proof of concept to validate the findings in your environment

Remember, the organizations in the Forrester study weren’t security unicorns with unlimited budgets. They were typical enterprises facing common challenges: growing attack surfaces, resource constraints, and the need to demonstrate security ROI.

The difference? They recognized that spreadsheets and manual processes weren’t just inefficient, they were actively undermining their security posture. They understood that you can’t secure what you can’t see. And they invested in a solution that delivered visibility, automation, and measurable returns.

As one security leader put it: “We used to joke that our asset inventory was a work of fiction. Now it’s a living, breathing source of truth that drives everything we do.”

Conclusion: The True Cost of Inaction

Before closing, let’s address the elephant in the room: the cost of Mr. Do Nothing.

Every day your organization relies on manual processes and fragmented tools for asset management is a day you’re accepting unnecessary risk and inefficiency. It’s a day your teams are working harder than they need to. It’s a day you’re making security decisions based on incomplete information.

The Forrester TEI study puts concrete numbers on this cost of inaction: $3.22 million in unrealized value over three years for a typical enterprise. That’s not just a missed opportunity; it’s a financial drain on your organization.

As you consider your security roadmap for the coming year, ask these simple questions: Can I afford to stay reactive? Or is it time to transform our approach to cybersecurity asset management?

The economic answer makes this abundantly clear. Only one question remains: when would you like to get started?

Ready to calculate your organization’s potential ROI? Download the complete Forrester TEI study and access the interactive ROI calculator here.